Displaying listings based on listing activity

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for enabling a display of listings based on listing activity are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, activity information of a listing displayed among multiple listings is accessed. Whether the activity information of the listing conforms to one or more criteria is determined. A priority of the listing relative to the multiple listings is altered based on the activity information of the listing conforming to the one or more criteria. The listing is displayed among the multiple listings according to the altered priority of the listing.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/338,534,entitled “DISPLAYING LISTINGS BASED ON LISTING ACTIVITY,” filed Dec. 28,2011, which is a continuation of, and claims the benefit of,International Application No. PCT/ES2011/070073, entitled “DISPLAYINGLISTINGS BASED ON LISTING ACTIVITY,” filed Feb. 3, 2011, which claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/301,524, entitled“DISPLAYING LISTINGS BASED ON LISTING ACTIVITY,” filed Feb. 4, 2010.Each of these applications is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to a method and system for use with a websiteor an electronic commerce system, according to one embodiment, and morespecifically, for enabling the display of listings based on listingactivity.

BACKGROUND

Many websites provide listings of items to a user. For example,consumer-focused websites may provide a listing of items for sale,services for sale, promotions, or advertisements; news websites mayprovide a listing of news items; and social networking websites mayprovide a listing of user profiles or user profile updates. If a usercannot find a listing, the user will not be able access the listing. Forexample, if a user cannot find a listing for an item for sale on aconsumer-focused website, the user will not be able to view, purchase,offer to buy, or bid on the item.

Listings are typically displayed in some order. For example, listings ofitems for sale may be presented in a list and ordered based on listingcreation date, expiration date, item price, popularity, or some otherfactor. Listings displayed toward the beginning of a listing interface(e.g., on the first page or in the first few pages of a listing website)tend to have a higher selection rate than those displayed thereafter,indicating that greater attention is paid to listings displayed towardthe beginning of a listing interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not byway of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a network diagram depicting a network system, according to oneembodiment, having a client-server architecture configured forexchanging data over a network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of alisting engine;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment of a processused in a listing engine as described herein; and

FIG. 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exampleform of a computer system within which a set of instructions, whenexecuted, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the various embodiments. It will be evident, however,to one of ordinary skill in the art that the various embodiments may bepracticed without these specific details.

In various embodiments, a system and method for enabling the display oflistings based on listing activity is disclosed. The system and methodenable a “bump up,” or increase in the priority, of a listing, andthereby enable the listing to be presented earlier in, or closer to thebeginning of, a listing interface. The priority of a listing may bemodified (e.g., increased or decreased) based on listing activity. Alisting is any entry in an ordered compilation of listings. Thecompilation of listings may be presented in a listing interface such asone or more web pages, a widget, a slideshow, or some other userinterface. In some embodiments, each listing in the ordered compilationof listings has an associated priority, and the listing with the highestpriority is presented first or at a first position. For example, in acompilation of listings prioritized by publication date, the listingwith the most recent publication date may be presented at the top orbeginning of the compilation.

The priority of a listing may be modified based on one or more criteria.These criteria may be used to further one or more objectives. Forexample, in one embodiment on an internet commerce website, such as anauction website or a classifieds website wherein one or more sellers mayoffer for sale items that are in limited quantity, the sellers may listitems for sale. Some example objectives would be to present listingsthat are still available (e.g., have not been sold) to potential buyers,to present quality listings to potential buyers, to increase the numberof sellers' listings that receive replies, increase the number oftransactions, and so on. These objectives may be addressed by using thecriterion of increasing the priority of listings that, for example, arequality listings that are still available.

To determine which listings should be prioritized, a listing engine mayanalyze listing activities or listing information associated with eachlisting. These listing activities may be any activity associated withthe listing that is monitored. A listing engine may track listingactivities such as the time the listing was created or published, thenumber of times the listing was shown, the number of user selections ofthe listing (e.g., page views), replies to the item listing (which mayinclude comments, questions, reviews, or any other response to an itemlisting, in the context of internet commerce websites replies), theclick-through rates of the listing, or some other activity associatedwith the listing that may be monitored.

Listing activities may be analyzed and used to derive information aboutthe listing. In one embodiment, listing activities may be used todetermine a likelihood that the item listed for sale is still available.For example, the time that has elapsed since the item was listed forsale (e.g., the item listing was published) may indicate a likelihoodthat an offer or bid has been made on the item or the item has beensold. More specifically, the greater the elapsed time, the greater thelikelihood that an offer or bid was made on the item or the item wassold. The number of page views or replies to a listing may also indicatea greater likelihood that an offer or bid was made on the item or theitem was sold. A listing is likely still available if the listing has alow number of views or no views or a low number of replies or noreplies. In other words, online listings that have not been seen oracted upon are likely to be listings that remain available.

Additionally, other types of listing activities (or lack thereof)related to listings may also be used to characterize a listing. Forexample, bid, offer, and watch activities may also be used to determinethe activity level of a particular listing and give an indication as toits availability. Bid activity relates to the number of bids that mayhave been made on an item associated with a listing. Offer activityrelates to the number of offers that may have been placed on an itemassociated with a listing. Watch activity relates to the number of userswho may have indicated an interest in watching the activity for aparticular item associated with a listing.

In another embodiment, various click-through rates may also be used asan indication of the quality of a listing as presented on a web page, anadvertisement, or other user accessible interface. For example, acompilation of listings may be presented in a listing interface providedon a classifieds website. Each listing in the compilation of listingsmay be presented as links (e.g., text links, graphical links, widgetscontaining a link, buttons, and so on) in the listing interface. Theclick-through rate of the link (e.g., the number of times the link isselected, divided by the number of times the link was presented) mayindicate a relative quality or efficacy of the link. Where a link takesa user to an item-listing webpage, other click-through rates (e.g., therate at which users select or click-through to a reply link, a purchaselink/button, links to more information, and the like) may be used todetermine a relative quality or efficacy of the item-listing webpage.

In some embodiments involving internet commerce websites such as anauction website or a classifieds website, modifying the priority ofcertain item listings in a listing interface may increase the efficacyof the listings for both a seller and potential buyers using thecommerce website. For example, potential buyers may be presented withavailable and/or higher quality listings earlier on in the listinginterface, and sellers may have their available listings prioritized andpresented earlier on in the listing interface, thereby increasing theodds that potential buyers will view the listings.

Although many of the embodiments discussed are related to listings oninternet-based commerce sites, the present disclosure is not limited tothis realm. For example, embodiments may be used in news websites thatprovide a listing of news items, social networking websites that providea listing of user profiles or user profile updates, online forums thatprovide user posts, off-line applications that provide a listing ofitems such as a catalog of files (digital and/or hardcopy), and othersituations in which listings are presented to a user.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram depicting a network system 100, according toone embodiment, having a client-server architecture configured forexchanging data over a network. For example, the network system 100 maybe a trading/commerce system where clients may communicate and exchangedata with the trading/commerce system, and the data may pertain tovarious functions (e.g., online purchases) and aspects (e.g., managingsocial networks) associated with the network system 100. Althoughillustrated herein as a client-server architecture for simplicity, inother embodiments the network architecture may vary and include anarchitecture such as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment.

Returning to FIG. 1, a data exchange platform, in an example form of anetwork-based provider (or host system/site) 112, provides server-sidefunctionality, via a network 114 (e.g., the Internet) to one or moreclients or client machines 120 using a client application or web client116. The one or more clients may include users that may utilize thenetwork system 100 and, more specifically, the network-based provider112, to exchange data over the network 114. These transactions mayinclude transmitting and/or receiving (communicating) and processingdata to and from the multitude of users. The data may include, but isnot limited to, user preference information; user profile information;classified ad search queries; shopping or listing context informationand/or identifiers; context data; notations (e.g., personal and publicshopping notes); context filter data; shared electronic shopping carts;product and service reviews; product, service, manufacturer, and vendorrecommendations and identifiers; product and service listings associatedwith buyers and sellers; auction bids; user feedback; and so forth.

Turning specifically to the network-based marketplace 112, an interface126 may comprise an application program interface (API) server and/or aweb server and may be coupled to, and provide programmatic and webinterfaces to, one or more application servers 128. The applicationservers 128 host one or more networking application(s) and marketplaceapplication(s). The application servers 128 may be coupled to one ormore database servers 134 that facilitate access to one or moredatabases 136.

The application server(s) 128 may provide a number of marketplacefunctions and services (e.g., presentation of item listings, itemsearching functionality, advertisements, payment services, and the like)to users that access the network-based marketplace 112. The applicationserver(s) 128 may also provide a number of consumer services, merchantservices, or social networking services and functions to users. Theapplication server(s) 128 may enable a user to create listings (e.g.,for products and services), advertisements, web pages, and so on. Theapplication server(s) 128 may also enable a compilation of listings in alisting interface to be shown to a user on a client machine 120. In oneembodiment, the application server(s) 128 also host a listing enginethat is able to monitor activity information for multiple listings,derive information about a listing, and modify a priority of a listingbased on one or more objectives.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of alisting engine 200. In the embodiment shown, listing engine 200 includesa listing activity information module 210, a listing display module 220,an interface layout module 230, and a filter module 240. In otherembodiments, however, the functionality and associated modules of thelisting engine 200 may be executed within any portion of the networksystem 100 (e.g., the client machine 120 and the network-basedmarketplace 112). Additionally, the modules discussed herein are forexample only, and it can be appreciated that these modules andapplications may be combined into one or many modules and applicationswithout departing from the scope of the methods and systems describedherein. The modules may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof.

The listing activity information module 210 may monitor any number oflisting activities associated with a listing. For example, the listingactivity information module 210 may keep track of a listing's creationdate, publication date, number of page views, number of replies, numberof questions, number of bids, number of offers, number of users watchingthe item listing, priority level, number of link or button activationsor “clicks,” and the like. The activity information module 210 maydistinguish between the number of distinct users associated with alisting activity versus the absolute number of times that the listingactivity occurred. For example, the activity information module 210 maytrack that a listing has been viewed 100 times and also that the samelisting has been viewed by only 80 unique users.

The listing display module 220 may analyze the listing activitiesmonitored by the listing activity information module 210, deriveinformation about a listing, and modify the priority of the listing(e.g., “bump up” or “bump down” the listing relative to other listingsof a listing interface) based on the listing activities in order toenable the presentation of the listing earlier or later in the listinginterface. In one embodiment, the listing display module 220 may modifythe priority of a listing by resetting or updating the creation date orpublication date associated with a listing with a more recent date. Inanother embodiment in which the listing has an associated priorityvalue, the listing display module 220 may modify the priority of alisting by modifying the priority value associated with that listing.

In one embodiment, the priority of a listing may also be modified basedon one or more criteria provided by the network system 100. The criteriamay be provided by the network system 100 in order to pursue one or moreobjectives, such as presenting potential buyers with listings of itemsthat are available; presenting potential buyers with better qualitylistings; increasing the visibility of a seller's item listing that isavailable; increasing the number of listings that receive a specific orminimum number of replies, bids, or offers; increasing the number ofpage views per visit; and so forth. In another embodiment, the one ormore objectives may be provided by a user. For example, a user mayprovide the one or more objectives in the user's preferences section ofthe user's profile, a filter option provided in a listing interface, orsearch parameters in a user search.

The interface layout module 230 may compile, format, and sort thelistings and prepare them to be displayed in a listing interface. Forexample, the interface layout module 230 may prepare a webpagecontaining a listing interface to be displayed on a web client 116 on aclient machine 120. The listing interface may provide for each listing agraphical user interface containing text, links, graphical elements,buttons, and so on.

The filter module 240 may filter or remove certain listings from thelisting interface. For example, filter parameters may be received fromthe network system 100 or a user identifying one or more categories oflistings to include or exclude from the listing interface. These filterparameters may be received in the form of search parameters used in asearch, filter options provided in a listing interface, or some othersource.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment of a processused in a listing engine 200 (FIG. 2). When the process illustrated inFIG. 3 begins (operation 305), one or more listings are already beingmonitored by the listing engine 200. Listing activities associated withthe listings are monitored by the listing activity information module210. At operation 310, the listing activity information module 210 (FIG.2) may access the listing activity information and provide it to thelisting display module 220 (also FIG. 2). In another embodiment, thelisting activity information module 210 may store or maintain listingactivity information for the one or more listings in a database or othermemory, and the listing display module 220 may access the activityinformation directly from the database or other memory.

The listing display module 220 may then determine that the activityinformation of a listing conforms to one or more criteria (operation315). The criteria may be formulated and provided by the network system100 in order to pursue one or more objectives. For example, one set ofobjectives of a network system 100 in the form of a trading/commercesystem may be to increase sales on the network system, to increase thenumber of replies/bids/offers a listing receives, to decrease the numberof listings receiving no replies/bids/offers, to increase the number ofpage views a listing receives, to present to potential buyers morelistings that are available, and to present to potential buyers qualitylistings.

Based on these objectives, a set of criteria may be generated orreceived by a criteria module (not shown). For example, one criterionmay be to only increase the priority of listings that have a reply countunder a certain threshold. This way, listings that have already receivedmany replies and may already be sold will not be presented to potentialbuyers early in the listing interface, so that they will not take upspace early in the listing interface that could be used for listingswith fewer replies that may still be available. Another criterion may beto only increase the priority of listings that have a reply count topage view count ratio within a certain range (e.g., more than a minimumthreshold and less than a maximum threshold). One rationale for thiscriterion is that listings with a high ratio may already be performingvery well and do not need to be prioritized. Listings with a low ratiomay be of lower quality, whether it be an unappealing listing, unpopularproduct or price, or so on. As a result, the trading/commerce system maydesire listings with a ratio between these thresholds to potentiallyreceive a higher priority. Similar criteria may also be used withrespect to bids, offers, and page views. Various click-through rates mayalso be used as criteria. For example, the listing display module 220may only increase listings with a click-through rate above a certainthreshold. One rationale for this criterion may be to increase priorityfor quality listings, as having a lower click-through rate may beindicative of being unappealing to a potential buyer. Other criteria maydeal with how many times a listing's priority may be modified either upor down. For example, one criterion may limit a “bump up” countassociated with a listing to a certain number or threshold.

In one implementation, the one or more criteria being used, and/or thelisting activities being monitored, may depend on the source of thelisting activities. For example, only listing activity associated with acreator or other entity connected specifically with the creation orpublication of the listing, such as the seller of a product or serviceassociated with the listing, may be employed to determine priority forthe listing. Such activities may include, but are not limited to, thecreation or publication date of the listing, the elapsed time since thelisting was created or published, and the number of times the listing isupdated or revised. In another example, only listing activity associatedwith a viewer of the listing may be utilized for altering the listingpriority. Such activities may include, but are not limited to,click-through rates, number of page views, number of replies, number ofquestions, number of bids, number of offers, and the number of userswatching the item listing, as described above.

Once the listing display module 220 (FIG. 2) determines that theactivity information for one or more listings conforms to the criteria,the listing display module 220 may modify the priority of a listing(operation 320). In one embodiment, the priority of a listing may bedecreased to decrease visibility of the listing. In other embodiments,the priority of a listing may be increased to increase the visibility ofthe listing. The listing display module 220 may modify the priority of alisting by, for example, modifying a creation date or a publication dateassociated with a listing. In another embodiment in which listings areassociated with a priority value, the priority values may be modified.

The listings may then be sorted and filtered by the filter module 240(FIG. 2) and formatted and arranged into a listing interface by theinterface layout module 230 (also FIG. 2). At operation 325, thelistings may be presented to a user.

FIG. 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exampleform of a computer system 400 within which a set of instructions, whenexecuted, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein. In alternative embodiments, the machineoperates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate inthe capacity of a server or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), acellular telephone or other mobile communication device, a webappliance, a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines or devices thatindividually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructionsto perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 400 includes a processor 402 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), orboth), a main memory 404 and a static memory 406, which communicate witheach other via a bus 408. The computer system 400 may further include avideo display unit 410 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or acathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 400 also includes an inputdevice 412 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 414 (e.g., amouse), a disk drive unit 416, a signal generation device 418 (e.g., aspeaker) and a network interface device 420.

The disk drive unit 416 includes a machine-readable medium 422 on whichis stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 424)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The instructions 424 may also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 404, the static memory 406, and/orwithin the processor 402 during execution thereof by the computer system400. The main memory 404 and the processor 402 also may constitutemachine-readable media. The instructions 424 may further be transmittedor received over a network 426 via the network interface device 420.While the machine-readable medium 422 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying a set of instructions for execution bythe machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the various embodiments, or that is capable of storing,encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by, or associated with,such a set of instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-statememories, optical media, and magnetic media.

We claim:
 1. A method, comprising: causing display, on a user interfaceof a client device, of a plurality of listings in an order, theplurality of listings including a first listing; monitoring activityinformation of the first listing using a processor that tracks userinteractions detected with the first listing over a predetermined periodof time; based on the monitoring, determining that a priority of thefirst listing in the order of the plurality of listings be changed;determining, that changing the priority of the first listing will failto exceed a priority change threshold indicating a number of times thepriority of the first listing is permitted to be changed; and responsiveto determining that the priority change threshold will fail to beexceeded, automatically causing the priority of the first listing tochange by reordering the first listing in the plurality of listings thatis displayed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automaticallycausing the priority of the first listing to change comprises resettinga creation or publication date of the first listing to a more recentdate.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically causing thepriority of the first listing to change comprises modifying a priorityvalue associated with the first listing.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the determining that the priority of the first listing bechanged is based on a user interaction count of the first listingfalling below a maximum user interaction count threshold.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the determining that the priority of the firstlisting be changed is based on a ratio of a user interaction count ofthe first listing to a page view count of the first listing fallingbelow a maximum threshold.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thedetermining that the priority of the first listing be changed is basedon a user interaction count of the first listing exceeding a minimumuser interaction count threshold that denotes listing quality.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining that the priority of thefirst listing be changed is based on a ratio of a user interaction countof the first listing to a page view count of the first listing exceedinga minimum threshold that denotes listing quality.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the determining that the priority of the first listing bechanged is based on ratio of a user interaction count of the firstlisting to a page view count of the first listing being within a certainrange.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of listingscomprises one or more of listings of news items, listings of userprofiles, listings of user profile updates, listings of items for sale,user posts, or catalogs of files.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein theuser interactions comprise one or more of viewing the first listing,replying to the first listing, clicking or making a selection associatedwith the first listing, watching the first listing, bidding on the firstlisting, or making an offer on the first listing.
 11. A systemcomprising: one or more hardware processors; and a memory storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors,cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operationscomprising: causing display, on a user interface of a client device, ofa plurality of listings in an order, the plurality of listings includinga first listing; monitoring activity information of the first listingfor user interactions with the first listing over a predetermined periodof time; based on the monitoring, determining that a priority of thefirst listing in the order of the plurality of listings be changed;determining, that changing the priority of the first listing will failto exceed a priority change threshold indicating a number of times thepriority of the first listing is permitted to be changed; and responsiveto determining that the priority change threshold will fail to beexceeded, automatically causing the priority of the first listing tochange, the change in the priority causing a by reordering the firstlisting in the plurality of listings that is displayed.
 12. The systemof claim 11, wherein the automatically causing the priority of the firstlisting to change comprises resetting a creation or publication date ofthe first listing to a more recent date.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein the automatically causing the priority of the first listing tochange comprises modifying a priority value associated with the firstlisting.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the determining that thepriority of the first listing be changed is based on a user interactioncount of the first listing falling below a maximum user interactioncount threshold.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the determiningthat the priority of the first listing be changed is based on a ratio ofa user interaction count of the first listing to a page view count ofthe first listing falling below a maximum threshold.
 16. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the determining that the priority of the first listingbe changed is based on a ratio of a user interaction count of the firstlisting to a page view count of the first listing exceeding a minimumthreshold that denotes listing quality.
 17. The system of claim 11,wherein the determining that the priority of the first listing bechanged is based on ratio of a user interaction count of the firstlisting to a page view count of the first listing being within a certainrange.
 18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructionsthat, when executed by one or more hardware processors of a machine,causes the machine to perform operations comprising: causing display, ona user interface of a client device, of a plurality of listings in anorder, the plurality of listings including a first listing; monitoringactivity information of the first listing for user interactions with thefirst listing over a predetermined period of time; based on themonitoring, determining that a priority of the first listing in theorder of the plurality of listings be changed; determining, thatchanging the priority of the first listing will fail to exceed apriority change threshold indicating a number of times the priority ofthe first listing is permitted to be changed; and responsive todetermining that the priority change threshold will fail to be exceeded,automatically causing the priority of the first listing to change byreordering the first listing in the plurality of listings that isdisplayed.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18,wherein the automatically causing the priority of the first listing tochange comprises: resetting a creation or publication date of the firstlisting to a more recent date; or modifying a priority value associatedwith the first listing.